


Hanafubuki

by AuntyA



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-11
Updated: 2015-03-11
Packaged: 2018-03-17 08:26:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3522332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuntyA/pseuds/AuntyA
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gin, unsurprisingly, has bad work habits.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hanafubuki

Gin put his head down on his desk and sighed. He pushed the spreadsheets, design drawings, DIC colour sheets, rulers, shot lists and storyboards to the side and rested his face on the desk. It felt cool against his cheek. He kept his eyes closed and sighed again. Pencils rolled off the desk and fell to the floor.

Something that felt like an eraser connected with his head and bounced off. He blew his longish bangs off his forehead, keeping his eyes closed, right cheek on the desk. Soi-Fon called over, “Gin, what the hell man? What’s with the naptime?”

He said in response, eyes still closed, not moving his head from the desk, “Forget it, forget me. I’m done here. You won’t make it if you have to wait for me. Go on without me. Just leave me to die.”

Soi-Fon, growled at him. “Gin, just do your damn work, you idiot.” He could hear her huffing at her desk across the room. She never had these problems. Her products just sold themselves. He heard her chair scrape back against the floor followed by the sounds of her booted feet stomping out of the room.

He sighed again. He lay there for what felt like an eternity, he opened his eyes a bit and slowly raised his head. He brushed his bangs back off his face with one hand. He straightened his tie. He refused to look at the mess on the desk.

A can of coffee appeared in front of his face clutched tightly in a hand with artistically polished black fingernails and a large heavy ring that made a spiky point on her index finger like a talon. He slouched backwards, raising his limp arm to reach for the can.

The can moved out of his reach. He raised his eyes to see Soi-Fon raising the can above her head “You need to meet this deadline or you will be fired, Gin you are a fuckup.” She said. Soi-Fon had a certain, well, fashion sense was probably too much of a characterization he thought. Her hair was cut in a severe bob with two long white braids trailing down back of her neck. She only wore black, she wouldn't wear sleeves.

She was also very short. He stood up now, towering over her, looking down at the raised can. Soi-Fon looked up at him defiantly, her pierced lip in a glower, still holding the can above her head. “Seriously Gin. Get. It. Together.”

He took the can from her vice-like grip and moved to the window of the crowded workroom. He leaned his head against the window and looked out at the entrance to the pedestrian path across and farther down the street. Sakura blossoms busting out into bloom everywhere. Gin opened his coffee and stood looking out for a while. He could hear Soi-Fon crumpling papers and growling to herself behind him. He checked his vest pocket for his watch.

Rangiku would have teased him for putting his wristwatch into his vest pocket but he couldn’t work with the watch on his wrist. His wrists were too skinny and the watch spun around when he wore it. He finished the coffee and tossed the can into the overfull wastepaper basket by his desk.

He turned back to the room. “What now procrastination king?” Soi-Fon asked waving her hands at him. “Going out.” Gin said grabbing his suit jacket. She made that little ‘che’ sound that was often accompanied by her throwing something pointy at him so he moved a little bit quicker out the door. “Onigiri” he said back over his shoulder, “preserved plum.” He closed the office door on her sputtering. He heard the sharp clack of whatever it was she threw at him hitting the door.

Gin walked down the stairs and put on his jacket. He actually wasn’t hungry and he really didn’t need a walk. He just really didn’t want to do any work on this campaign. He walked past the front desk and looked around for Rangiku. She wasn’t at her desk, but her orange shawl was on her chair. She must be around. He considered leaving her a note but decided that it was pointless as he had no idea where he was going. He settled for drawing a little kitsune face on a sticky note.  He stuck it on her monitor and left.

As he walked away from the office building, he thought about the terrible market research session he had earlier that week. The people sitting in the marketing waiting room had all looked up at him with hungry hollow eyes. They didn't care about the product. Just cared about the money they would get at the end of the session for telling him lies about how the product made them ‘feel’ and ‘react’.

He had greeted them, offered them the coffee or tea, started the spiel about the process and the product, and moved them into the room to watch the first set of commercials and moved to the observation room. Six people were on their phones and ignoring the video. One woman was watching the commercials as if her life depended on it, even taking notes in a little red book. “Oh great,” he thought, “a keener.”

As the session dragged on, with two rounds of feedback and after the third set of videos, he caught two of them actually sleeping. He flicked the lights on and shut down the whole thing. He showed them out the door and handed each of them their envelope.

One guy lingering, asked him why they had skipped the last feedback form, Gin’s eyes narrowed, perhaps a plant from management or the vendor. “That’s fine,” he said smiling, without the smile reaching his eyes, “we’ve gotten enough information from you all today. We are going to be testing this product in a different market in the coming weeks. Thank you so much for your time.” He had ushered the guy out the door, firmly.

He thought he had probably run a worse session in the past but this one, it had just compounded his problems. Tenfold. Gin buttoned up his suit jacket and adjusted his scarf, a striking sea foam coloured soft thing Matsumoto had found for him somewhere. He patted down the front of his jacket and flicked imaginary dust off his pants. He strolled past the konbini, a Circle K, idly thinking if he should get Soi-Fon something after all. He kept walking.

He had studied hard to get where he was and he had been so happy to get the job at Dentsu Kyoto. He had thought that this agency was where he wanted to be. But now he wasn’t so sure. He had had some small successes in the past with his Shinso cosmetics account. But this horrific product, this current campaign was going to kill him. Gin hated household products. He had absolutely nothing to say about this product. What was there to say exactly? The product was obvious.

He despised the ads with grass stains and streaky blobs of competitors’ products and grinning housewives smelling towels or bumbling dads without that one product that could save them. Gin slowed down his pace as he approached a crosswalk. He stood at the street corner looking at the side of a truck with its flashers on, pulled across the road blocking the crosswalk.

He stood still. This was taking longer than it would normally for a truck to make a turn. He frowned. He stared at the side of the panel truck. ‘Ikkanzaka Jidanbo’ was written in large red letters across the side. It didn't seem to be going anywhere.

“Shit” he said, clenched his fists and turned the corner angrily instead of crossing the street. “Stupid truck.” He kept walking. For someone without anywhere to go he was proving to be quite anxious and irritated he thought to himself.

As he walked, he caught sight of himself in the plate glass window of a 24 hour restaurant by the train station. He had been told he was striking. Pale hair, tall and thin, always smiling. He had also been told he was vain. He had always tried to dress to his name. Pale colours, metallic hues. Even when he had been dead broke, he always dressed well. Monochrome tie and shirt, subtle patterned suit. Clothes make the man. And if you keep smiling, no-one will guess at what the nightmare is under that suit.

He thought this suit was one of his favourites. Three-piece suits were a bit of an affectation but he loved the effect of the vest with the tight shorter pants. Cut properly, HK tailoring had made it affordable. Rangiku had steadily added the occasional tasteful coloured accessory to his wardrobe, forcing him to take the small gifts through the sheer force of her will.

His phone buzzed in his inside jacket pocket. He fished it out before it had a chance to start playing his embarrassing anime theme song ringtone. It was a fairly rude text message from Soi-Fon inquiring about “his fucking majesty’s” return to the office. She was still worried about him and his deadlines. He ignored her.

His phone was barely back in his pocket before there was a second text. Rangiku wanted to find out where he was. Apparently he was missing an account update meeting with a partner. Great. This day just couldn’t get any worse. He had always hated sad stories.

Gin had walked back through the office neighbourhood without really thinking about where he was walking and now he could see the office down the street. He realized he was standing at the entrance to the pedestrian walkway with the cherry trees fully in bloom. Instead of turning towards the building, he decided to walk into the park. As he was already in shit, how would any more time away from his desk really add to his sins?

He walked slowly looking up at the trees, avoiding the knots of other people also looking at the cherry blossoms. Tourists were taking photos, trying to capture the fleeting moments of the flowers. He tried to forget about work and the mess he was making, the hole he was digging for himself.

The trees above were saturated with blossoms. He heard a group of children ahead giggling and singing the Sakura Sakura song. He sat on a bench under the trees and thought about Rangiku. Gin lowered his head for a moment and looking at his own thin fingers clasped in his lap, the words to the song popped into his thoughts.

Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,  
In fields and villages  
As far as you can see.  
Is it a mist, or clouds?  
Fragrant in the morning sun.  
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,  
Flowers in full bloom.

He had known Rangiku forever. It was happenstance that they both ended up working at Dentsu. She had returned from abroad and then there she was at the office front desk one day. He had been so happy to see her then. Around that time, just before she had started there, he had felt the disguise, the veneer slipping. That the suit was supposed to be here, but not the man.

He called her Matsumoto outside of work, she called him Ichimaru in her soft voice. She would ride her bicycle to meet him for a drink somewhere cheap and then go back to his apartment. They would lean against each other on his tiny couch and watch terrible HK action movies. If he got fired he wasn’t sure that the friendship could continue. She was looking for a boyfriend, he wasn’t sure what he was looking for. Perhaps he kept his eyes mostly closed in an attempt to avoid looking for anything it seemed.

Gin started singing the second verse of the Sakura Sakura song as he stared upwards into the arched ceiling of trees.

Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,  
Across the spring sky,  
As far as you can see.  
Is it a mist, or clouds?  
Fragrant in the air.  
Come now, come now,  
Let's look, at last!

Suddenly, unexpectedly, a gentle snowstorm of pale pink blossoms enveloped him as he sat with his jacket off and over his arm. The petals swirled around him, and unable to see the figures of the others on the path, he felt blissfully alone. The world was blank, bleached a pale pink through the thousands of flying tiny flower petals. His suit was also covered in the flowers, his hair, even his shoes.

The breeze sent his pale hair and scarf flying, and his lazy lidded eyes finally opened wide as he found his answer to his problem. His reprieve. He was pulled back from the brink. He sat on the bench in the blizzard of petals and mentally composed a text he could send back to Soi-Fon that would just piss her right off.

He could use cherry blossoms with no mention of the stupid product. Storyboards coming together in his mind, Gin’s imagination was racing. He wouldn’t have to mention the product at all. Bleach. Who needs bleach to whiten the world when there are cherry blossoms? He could hear the schoolkids screaming and squealing with joy in the sakura snow. He watched the petals fall around him as his smile finally reached his eyes.


End file.
